Man United legend Gary Neville: Chelsea lack the mental edge to see the big games out

MANCHESTER UNITED legend Gary Neville thinks the current Chelsea team lack the mental edge of Jose Mourinho's previous Blues sides and have already let both United and Man City off the hook this season.

And last month failed to hold onto a similar lead against City at the Etihad as Frank Lampard came back to haunt them, ending their 100% start to the season.

Chelsea remain top of the league, currently four points clear of Southampton and six ahead of champions City.

But Neville believes their frailty in the final minutes of the games against City and United show they still have a way to go from replicating Mourinho's league winning side from the 2005-05 season, and accuses them of switching off.

"If a team are going to be playing for a 1-0 then you better see it out," Neville said on Sky Sports' Monday Night Football.

“If a team are going to be playing for a 1-0 then you better see it out”

Gary Neville

"When I saw Jose Mourinho two weeks ago he talked about the 2005 team and compared the team he had then to the team he has now and he said the killer instinct's missing.

"When I look at the statistics they are staggering - 28 times they (the 2004/05 team) scored first (in Premier League matches), 27 the season after and they only dropped two and four points (respectively).

"This team this season, even though they're at a really high level, have scored first seven times and already dropped four points. They've got to get to that next level.

"When (Manchester) City went down to 10 men I thought Chelsea let them off the hook and yesterday at 1-0 up I think Chelsea let United off the hook.

"There's a mentality shift.

"At Manchester City they went from 55 per cent possession for the 10 minutes before the goal, and the 10 minutes after they went to 26 per cent possession, and City had 10 men. That can't be an instruction from the manager. That's a shift in the players.

"Against Manchester United they went from 64 per cent (possession before scoring) to 45 per cent (after scoring). They switch off.

"This is not the manager changing it. The players who have worked themselves into a 1-0 lead have then sat deeper."